Festival of Flowers Winners

1st Runner Up - Tatyana Buksh
I would not claim to have “green thumb”, but I was shocked when I replanted the flowers from one pot into another, flower didn’t die. I kept on watching it to see if it would start changing color, but it didn’t. It actually started blooming at some point. I bought plant food and would use it once in a while (when I remembered).

Sometime ago, my office started having weird smells. We got engineering guys to check on the vents, since we were convinced that is where the smell was coming from. Vents were cleaned out, but no indication of anything rotten being there. Engineering guys left and told us to observe if the smell would continue to rise, if it did they would have to get someone who is more knowledgeable that they are to see what the cause could be. Of course the smell continued to stay there.

One morning we called engineering. Upon their entrance, of the guys passed my plant and said “this plant stinks”, and he was right. When I got to the office, the whole office smelled really bad. My plant got moved outside with its rotten smell. By the end of work day I had to have “funeral” for the plant. I put gloves on, took plastic bag, and went outside to take care of the “stinky”. Now this plant is history…

1st Runner Up - Gigi Miller
Each year in hopes to follow in my father in laws footprints we endeavor to create fresh produce in our own yard. Each year is met with staggering disappointment. One year stands out as particularly disheartening. Unable to squelch our enthusiasm we had purchased the seed packets, greenhouses and little dirt wafers from the home and garden store. We are quickly encouraged by the growth. The investment of 2 months of cluttering the kitchen table and care seemed to be paying off. We prepared the garden for the anxious little seedlings, and put the top on the greenhouse one more day before planting outside. Unfortunately we forgot to move them away from the direct sun which burnt and suffocated the once potential food suppliers. My husband, seeing our disappointment, made another trip to the home and garden store to replace the very dead plants. Another hefty investment filled our spirits with the potential of a great harvest! Once in the ground the plants took off. Our excitement grew as the vegetables began to form. We were particularly interested in the broccoli and made plans to harvest on a Friday night when we had invited friends over to impress with our gardening ability. On Friday morning we raced to the garden, basket in hand, to cut our first harvest of broccoli floweret's. We were greatly disappointed to find our plants gone, only a gnawed stalk marked where they once had been. Our bean stalks has been obliterated as well. We can only guess that after dark the night before our 80 pound golden retriever had invited every wild rabbit in the neighborhood over for dinner. I could see her in my mind lifting the board of the fence to make their access easier and showing them the best plants we had to offer. In a way I am comforted knowing her dinner party had gone better than mine. Again, my husband in an effort to lift our self esteem made a trip to the store. This time to Food Lion of a $2 head of broccoli.